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What did the authors learn about prejudice and homelessness?

One lesson the authors learned about prejudice and homelessness also happens to be a main theme of this non-fiction book, and it has to do with social class differences. There is a common misconception that poverty and wealth are a natural dividing line between people, and that across this line, common ground does not nor cannot exist. Ron Hall and his wife Deborah are on the rich side of the line. Denver Moore is on the poor side. 


When their lives collide and an unlikely friendship forms, Ron learns (with Deborah's help and prompting) that many people harbor prejudices against the poor, himself included. Before working at the soup kitchen, Ron Hall, an art dealer, would never have assumed that a man like Denver Moore would have anything valuable to offer him. He would have assumed that Denver, who is homeless, lacked a proper education and common experiences. To Ron, this meant he also lacked the kind of life-wisdom Ron had grown accustomed to in dealing with mostly rich people.


But by the end of the story it is obvious his prejudices were all wrong. Despite Denver's homelessness and poverty, he becomes a very close friend and even a mentor to Ron, which it seems Deborah knew all along. The two have so much in common on a purely human level, and these commonalities drive them closer together.


At the end of the story, Denver puts it this way:



I used to spend a lotta time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different - the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless - just workin our way toward home (235).



The lesson, simply put, is this: despite social and economic differences, educational disparities, and life experience, all humans have an opportunity to make personal connections with one another. Poverty, homelessness, wealth, and "social importance" all come with their own set of prejudices, but when two people take the time to learn each other's stories, friendship can form in unlikely ways.

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